IOWA CITY, IA - With a possible trip to the Big Ten championship game at stake, Nebraska fell flat.

C.J. Beathard threw three touchdown passes and the Hawkeyes pummeled No. 17 Nebraska 40-10 on Friday, knocking the Cornhuskers out of Big Ten title contention and sending Wisconsin to the championship game.

Tommy Armstrong started for Nebraska (9-3, 6-3 Big Ten) despite a balky hamstring and was just 13 of 35 passing for 125 yards. Backup Ryker Fyfe, who broke his non-throwing wrist last week, didn't take a snap until the game had long been decided.

"Tommy wasn't 100 percent," Huskers coach Mike Riley said. "I don't know if he was the healthiest...I don't know how much it would have made a difference (to play Fyfe)."

Nebraska's defense was just as bad as its offense.

LeShun Daniels Jr. ran for 158 yards and two scores and George Kittle caught two TD passes for the Hawkeyes (8-4, 6-3). They closed the regular season with three straight wins--two of them over ranked opponents--and scored their most points since a win over Purdue on Oct. 15.

Iowa broke open what was expected to be a tight game with a 75-yard TD run by Akrum Wadley and a 77-yard touchdown throw from Beathard to Riley McCarron in the first quarter."We played as good as we've played all year," Beathard said. "It just shows the fight and the resilience of this team."

The Badgers are big favorites to beat Minnesota on Saturday anyway. But the Cornhuskers, who entered November as a legitimate playoff contender, hardly looked like one after being outscored 102-13 in their last two road games.

"We gave up big plays. I think we were horrible on third down," Riley said. "I'm really disappointed all the way around in all of us."

THE TAKEAWAYNebraska: With so much to play for, it's hard to believe that the Cornhuskers played so, so poorly. Nebraska gave up three plays of over 50 yards, and Armstrong was all over the place. The Huskers have lost three of their last four to Iowa, a fate sealed when they ran into Iowa kicker Keith Duncan on a field goal try in the fourth quarter--allowing the Hawkeyes to go up 23 a few plays later.

Iowa: The Hawkeyes didn't make it to the Big Ten title game either. But they did go 6-3 in the league, an impressive feat for a team that lost to North Dakota State of the FCS in its final nonconference game. Iowa also made its case for a high-profile bowl, which looked iffy to say the least after losing by 27 points at Penn State to start this month. "You learn a lot about yourself in November," Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said.

B1G TITLE GAME UPDATEWisconsin gets the West's spot in Indianapolis next week because it beat Nebraska 23-17 (OT) in late October. In the East, Penn State might have the easiest path. The favored Nittany Lions need to beat Michigan State at home and hope favored Ohio State beats Michigan on Saturday. Ohio State needs a win and a Penn State loss--and even if the Nittany Lions take the East the Buckeyes should be in good shape for the playoff at 11-1. Michigan needs to upset the hated Buckeyes.

EXTRA POINTSDaniels became the first Iowa rusher with over 1,000 yards since 2011. ...Armstrong's 13-yard TD pass to Stanley Morgan snapped a streak of over 136 minutes without allowing a touchdown for Iowa. The Hawkeyes shut out Illinois 28-0 last week. ... Wadley had 105 yards rushing on just 11 carries. ... Armstrong made his 44th career start, setting a team record for a quarterback. Taylor Martinez, his predecessor, made 43 career starts.

POLL IMPLICATIONSNebraska likely stays in the Top 25. But the Huskers could find themselves drop a few spots after their second straight poor showing on the road. Iowa, which reached as high as 13th earlier this year, could sneak back after beating the Huskers and Michigan in November.

UP NEXTNebraska will head to a decent bowl game just a year after sneaking into a bid with just five wins.Iowa will find out which bowl game it will play in next Sunday.___More college football at www.collegefootball.ap.org

"There are things you'd like to add to your team," says General Manager Ted Thompson. "Athletic ability, size, that sort of thing. We do think we were able to do that [Saturday]. You don't have to be big to play in the NFL, but it helps, and we were able to get some bigs on both sides of the ball."

It takes a lot of planning and focus to draft well, but Ted says the process is still far from over.

"It's easy to sit here and proclaim 'okay, everything's good,'" says Thompson. "Quite frankly, everything is just getting started. We've got an extraordinary amount of work and people to talk to and things to see over the course of the next 24-48 hours to get to the point where you start winding up the roster from the draft itself."

MILWAUKEE - Adeiny Hechavarria had four hits, including one of four Miami solo home runs, to help the Marlins beat the Milwaukee Brewers 7-5 on Saturday night.

Giancarlo Stanton, Derek Dietrich and Marcell Ozuna also homered as Miami won its seventh consecutive game. It is the longest winning streak for Miami since it won seven consecutive games May 1-7, 2012. The Marlins are 12-11, the first time they have been over .500 since being 64-63 on Aug. 22, 2014.

Wei-Yin Chen (2-1) allowed three runs with two walks and four strikeouts one night after the team took a combined no-hitter into the ninth inning.

David Phelps pitched the ninth for his first save of the season.

Milwaukee starter Chase Anderson (1-3) had his third consecutive subpar outing, allowing six runs in just 4 1/3 innings.

ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI - Jaime Garcia pitched a one-hitter, allowing only Domingo Santana's lined single into right field with two outs in the sixth inning, as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Milwaukee Brewers 7-0 Thursday.

MILWAUKEE - Jimmy Nelson struck out nine in six innings, and the Milwaukee Brewers took advantage of early wildness by Houston ace Dallas Keuchel in a 3-2 win over the Astros on Sunday.

The AL Cy Young Award winner walked four in the first inning and gave up a two-run single to Aaron Hill. Keuchel (1-1) left with two outs in the sixth with a career high-tying six walks, including an intentional pass to Ryan Braun in the fourth.

Domingo Santana added an RBI double in the fourth for rebuilding Milwaukee, which took two of three in the interleague series against the AL West contenders.

Nelson (1-1) settled down after allowing a leadoff homer to deep left to Jose Altuve on the game's first pitch. Jeremy Jeffress pitched a perfect ninth for his third save.

MILWAUKEE - Colby Rasmus hit two home runs and a sacrifice fly to lead the Houston Astros past the Milwaukee Brewers 6-4 Saturday night.

Rasmus teed off on Milwaukee starter Wily Peralta (0-2) with a solo shot in the third and a two-run blast in the fifth that landed near the top row of the second-tier bleachers in right.

Rasmus may have found some motivation after being called for interference under the new "Chase Utley rule," resulting in a game-ending double play Friday night that halted Houston's ninth-inning rally and gave the Brewers a 6-4 win.

Tyler White kept up his torrid start for Houston with a sacrifice fly in the first and followed Rasmus in the fifth with his third home run. White is 10 for 15 (.667) so far in his rookie season.

Doug Fister (1-0) won his Astros' debut, allowing three runs on five hits in five innings.

MILWAUKEE - Colby Rasmus was called for interference on the "Chase Utley rule," resulting in a game-ending double play and blunting the Houston Astros' ninth-inning rally in a 6-4 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday night.

Down 6-0, the Astros scored four times in the ninth and put runners on first and second with one out.

Jose Altuve hit a bouncer to second baseman Scooter Gennett, who threw to shortstop Jonathan Villar for the forceout. Rasmus slid past the base, and Villar didn't make a relay to first.

Second base Dan Bellino called Rasmus for not trying to stay on the bag, part of the requirement under baseball's new rule governing slides on potential double plays. The call was upheld after the Astros challenged the play.

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